Don’t Build Belmont on Racial Fault Lines
While we agree with Frank del Olmo’s conclusion that a scaled-down Belmont Learning Center should probably be completed on the portion of the site not cut through by earthquake faults, his insinuation of an Anglo conspiracy to prevent completion of a badly needed school is counterproductive and insulting (“Belmont: Faults, but Still Needed,” Commentary, Dec. 8).
The history of Belmont is terribly unfortunate, marked by extremely bad luck and ineptitude. But Del Olmo’s thinly veiled accusation of racism (that “a school would have been finished years ago ... if the student body were predominantly Anglo rather than mostly Latino”), disguised as the view of some “frustrated parents -- not to mention angry students and impatient political activists,” does nothing constructive and irresponsibly inflames the issue.
If the school is ultimately built on the site, it should be because that is the best solution for all involved, not because Del Olmo wants to see “a gesture of good faith to a community that has been badly served by [Los Angeles Unified School District] decision makers.”
It is unlikely that Belmont will ever be completed as long as the racial divide is allowed to run deeper than the fault running beneath the half-built school.
Gary A. Meyer
Susan Z. Meyer
Studio City
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